The present invention relates to a system for combining together, by means of an adapter, a standard fishing spinning reel with an archery bow to produce a combination that can be used for bow-fishing with a retrievable arrow, either above or under salt or fresh water or similar uses.
The practice of archery has reached a high degree of perfection and so has the art of fishing by means of rod and reel; however, the two arts have not yet been effectively combined in fishing, hunting, and similar sports and uses where a line-attached retrievable arrow is necessary.
By providing a suitable adapter for attaching spinning reels to conventional bows, the present invention effects a bridge between the art of the rod and reel and the art of the bow and arrow. It allows the sportsman to place his spinning reel upon his archery bow, giving a device for shooting and retrieving fish or other small game; at the same time, he can, in a matter of seconds, dismantle this combination, and again use his bow and reel for their respective purposes without change.
Before the invention of the spinning reel, and its acceptance in actual practice, ordinary reels were installed permanently on fishing bows, the back-lash effect from an arrow was much worse than any encountered in ordinary casting; for this reason, such devices were ineffective, unless a special back-lash device was used. The present invention takes into consideration the favorable features of the spinning reel as regards to back-lash. The development of the sport of bow-fishing, or spearing fish with arrows, has reached a stage where a device such as the present invention is needed to allow the sportsman to combine temporarily his fishing and archery equipment when necessary, without going to the expense of purchasing additional or special equipment. The inventor knows of no simple, reliable device in the prior art that will allow the sportsman to do this quickly and easily.
Typical examples of the prior art showing the combination of archery bows and line reels are listed below: Inventor(s) Patent Number Issue Date ______________________________________ J.J. Adams 736,051 August 11, 1903 H.E. Myers 2,812,756 November 12, 1957 L.S. Meyer, et al 2,873,929 February 17, 1959 P.E. Podufal 2,904,338 September 15, 1959 H.C. Stockfleth 2,918,049 December 22, 1959 R.L. Berg 2,938,518 May 31, 1960 H.O. Moore 3,059,370 October 23, 1962 F.K. Bromwell 3,084,467 April 9, 1963 H.F. Ellenburg 3,227,454 January 4, 1966 C.A. Saunders 3,522,916 August 4, 1970 ______________________________________
As to the over-all structural combination of the present invention, the Bromwell U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,467 is perhaps the most relevant of the prior art.
It is the principal purpose of the invention to allow any size of ordinary spinning reel to be easily installed upon and removed from any conventional bow by utilizing a specially designed mounting adapter. This is done for the reel by making the part of the adapter upon which the reel is mounted directly mate with the mounting foot provided on all standard fishing spinning reels. As regards the bow, the part of the adapter that is attached to the bow has provisions for mounting slots and holes, so that the adapter can be made to fit any particular bow.
Another, ancillary purpose of the invention is to improve the prior art by not interfering with the archer's line of sight. This is done by placing the reel on one side of the bow and the arrow on the other. The angles of sight are such that the archer, aiming down the length of the arrow, has an unobstructed view.
A novel aspect of the invention is the provision for the ready disassembly of the reel from the bow, so that the bow may be instantly used without interference, as in ordinary archery. This is done by the design of the adapter at the point of attachment to the bow. The reel can be kept attached to the adapter and instantly locked into place on the bow when needed.
Another improvement over prior art, is that the invention allows the speared fish to be played by the archer using the bow as in the general manner of a fishing rod. After the fish is speared, the archer can grasp his bow with one hand and manipulate the crank handle of the spinning reel with the other, and thus "play" the fish and retrieve it. The fact that the reel is on one side of the bow and the arrow on the other improves the safety of some of the prior art.
The attachment of the line to the rear or notched end of the arrow improves accuracy and safety by improving the aerodynamic stability of the arrow in flight.
The reel is almost in direct level with the position of the arrow when on the bow string; this contributes to greater accuracy.